5 IN THE MORNING
by HopeVainProductions
Summary: Eleanora Azarola had it all - looks, money, attitude. 3 new students arriving threaten to turn her life upside down even more than it already is. Forbidden love, drama, secrets emerge as Eleanora tries to handle the high school life. Everything however gets even worse when her classmate is murdered in cold-blood, and Eleanora has to prove her innocence. [ÉLITE]
1. ACT 1 SCENE 1

There was one thing Eleanora knew for a fact, and that was that the new scholarship students were about to be eaten alive.

At Las Encinas, it was as if all of the teenagers were thrown into a jungle to determine which of them were survivors. Eleanora was one, and as the daughter of one of the richest business magnate - as well as a fashion designer - Eleanora was placed at the top of the food chain. It would have been a lie to say that the girl didn't enjoy all of the perks her wealth brought her; alongside her best friends Carla and Lucrezia, the trio were seen almost every weekend wasting their money at various boutiques and clubs. The girls were almost royalties, not one of them ready to surrender their thrones as the leaders of the school.

The brunette didn't bother to spend not one thought on the new students. Even when Lu frantically texted her in the morning to remind her of the two new boys and one girl, Eleanora didn't care. She had other things to worry about, as in how to get rid of that random guy in her bed with whom she had hooked up last night. Her parents would have a fit if they found him on her bed naked, only a sheet covering his body - a body that made Eleanora forgot her mission for a second, a mission to wake up the boy and throw him out of the house before anyone noticed him.

_What was his name? Something with an N. Nicolas? Natanael? Nano. Pretty sure it was Nano._

"Get up." The young girl commanded, throwing his jeans on top of his head. He responded with a loud groan, rubbing his eyes and staring around her room, looking clueless. She didn't have the time to remind him what had happened last night; instead she focused on getting ready for the next dreadful day of school. Luckily for her, he seemed to regain his memory rather quickly and now Eleanora was fully ready to get rid of him and never see him again.

"You need to leave." She declared loudly, taking a seat in front of her vanity table. He didn't reply and stood still to which the girl raised her eyebrow. From the mirror their eyes met, and with a small smile Nano left, stopping just for a minute to write down his phone number onto a piece of paper which the girl crumbled in her hands and threw into the trash can.

* * *

"Have you seen them already? They look like lost puppies." Lucrezia chuckled, linking her arms with Eleanora who greeted her best friend with a smile and an eye roll. She couldn't understand the obsession - especially Lucrezia's - with a bunch of lowlife students. If anything, the attention should have been on the girls whose adventures last weekend were always a hot topic amongst the teenagers of Las Encinas.

"Lu, why do you care so much about them?" Eleanora questioned, coming to a stop which forced Lucrezia to stop along with her. Lu stared at her as if she had asked her an especially stupid question.

"I'm not about to let a bunch of _coños _take what I have worked for. Neither should you." She explained with a low voice, continuing on her journey towards the classroom where their Russian lesson took place every Monday morning. Eleanora followed her with her eyes, her mind wondering whether Lu had a point and the right mindset towards the new students.

The girl was about to fall when someone suddenly pushed her. Adjusting her skirt, Eleanora sent an angry glare to the person - in front of her stood the famous trio; Eleanora had to admit that the way they stared at everything made them indeed look like lost puppies.

Looking at them, the girl couldn't understand what was so special about them. She instantly disliked the loud one, the one who had bumped into her, apologized and was now talking about something Eleanora didn't bother to listen to. Next to him were the quiet ones - one boy and a girl. As much as she didn't want to, she had to admit that the girl was gorgeous. She now understood clearly why Lucrezia felt so threatened by them.

The final one was the quiet boy who mumbled only a couple of words to her. Eleanora had to admit that there was something handsome about the boy. If he'd only be rich like her, then she would have already made a move towards him. Now that she really thought about it, she was sure she had seen him at one of the cafes she and her friends frequently visited. Not that it mattered, anyway - someone like her couldn't bother to spend her time with someone like him.

Without saying anything, Eleanora turned on her heels and silently followed Lucrezia. She heard the loud one yell something to her, attracting the attention of many of her classmates who all stared at him as if he was an alien. In some ways he was - Eleanora and her friends had known each other ever since they were small children, and had spent most of their time alongside each other. Even the boys and girls Eleanora hadn't spoken to _belonged _to Las Encinas, something that could not be said about the trio.

Eleanora entered the classroom with the scholarship students right behind her. Students were scattered all through the room - the brunette instantly went to her usual seat in front of Guzmán and Lucrezia, and was immediately pulled into a conversation about Marina's party, one that she had no desire to attend.

"Hey! What's up, guys? I'm Christian." The loud one yelled behind Eleanora, forcing her to roll her eyes at the immaturity of him. She had barely said one word to him, and she already wanted to stab him to shut him up.

"Hello." Christian said, moving next to Guzmán in order to sit next to him, an action that was denied right away by Guzmán. With a defeat Christian moved away in search of another seat as Eleanora and Guzmán let out a small chuckle. When the teacher entered she focused her attention fully on him - the last thing the girl needed was even worse grades than she already had.

Eleanora didn't bother to listen to Christian's introduction, focusing instead on her manicured nails. Her attention, however, was caught by the girl Nadia. It was obvious she was ambitious, perhaps even more so that Eleanora herself. Yet the fact remained that she was a competition to her - with one glance to one another she and Lucrezia realized that the most threatening of the trio was Nadia.

The final one was Samuel. Due to Guzmán's provocation he refused to say much; Eleanor had to admit that the boy was smarter than he looked. Within hour he had _already _managed to figure out the hierarchy between the walls of Las Encinas.

Perhaps he was the one who would survive in the jungle.


	2. ACT 2 SCENE 1

There was one thing Eleanora did better than anything else, and that was lie so well no one even dared to think it wasn't the truth.

As she sat in a windowless room, waiting for the detective to appear, she wondered if she should do so. Of course she hadn't killed Marina, yet she knew perfectly well that if the mindless policemen couldn't figure out the truth, then they needed a scapegoat - Eleanora was the perfect one in that case.

Public fight? _Check. _Jealousy? _Check. _Boy she wanted for herself? _Double check._

No wonder some of her classmates thought she was the killer. Then again, if they had only opened their eyes then they would have known she was never alone during the dance, not one time. She had always been with someone, except for the three minutes she had spent on her way to the locker room where she wanted to meet Samuel. Technically, the three minutes _would _have been enough to kill Marina and run away - Eleanora was sure that was the timeframe the detective was about to question her about.

The brunette felt herself getting nervous with every passing second. She had waited in the room for about fifteen minutes already, yet no one was in sight. Perhaps it was deliberately so; the more time passed, the more time the police would have to observe her and her behavior. Eleanora was sure _someone_ was staring at her from behind the glass like she had seen so many times in movies.

Accompanied by her thoughts, Eleanora wondered if her friends had been questioned yet. She knew Carla was the next one in line after her; other than that, the girl didn't know anything. The police were supervising the teenagers every move - it wasn't possible to text anyone without their knowledge.

Eleanora resisted the urge to let out a sigh when the detective finally appeared; it was a woman who didn't bother to introduce herself. Instead, the woman instantly focused on Eleanora. She had never any problems with someone staring at her - after all, it was basically a daily occurence - yet she didn't like the way the detective was looking at her. She wanted to squirm under her watchful eye, but knew better than to do so.

"Were you and Marina friends?" The detective started. She obviously hadn't done her homework if she questioned Eleanora with a question like that. Everyone knew the two girls couldn't stand each other. Or perhaps she was aware of their relationship and wanted to find out whether Eleanora would reply with a lie.

"No. We were only classmates. We hung out at parties sometimes, but we didn't really talk." Eleanora replied slowly, not embellishing the fact that they indeed didn't talk. Even when Marina threw a party - or the other way around - the two girls would always attend the celebration, yet would never say not one word to one another. Unless it was to argue, which was something the two girls very often did.

"Were you jealous of Marina? She won the scholarship. Your teachers said that you had every potential to win the prize." The girl wanted to reply with an eye roll; she _did _have every potential to win the prize if only she had taken better care of her grades.

"Why would I have been jealous of Marina? I have everything she has." Eleanora snarled back at the accusing tone of the detective. Realizing her mistake, she took a deep breath, forcing herself to relax.

"_Had. _What Marina had." She corrected herself, the detective's eye never leaving Eleanora, except for a second to write something into her little black notebook in front of her.

"That's not exactly true, now is it?"

Eleanora felt her heart beating faster than before. She had been calm, like she always was under pressure, but now she felt herself getting nervous. The detective _clearly _knew about her and Samuel, and if jealousy wasn't the number one motive to kill Marina, Eleanora didn't know what was.

"I want my lawyer."


	3. ACT 1 SCENE 2

Ivanna Azarola was, perhaps, the most curious person Eleanora knew. Not a day went by when her mother and Carla's didn't share the new bits of gossip they had learnt with each other; like everyone at school talked about the new students, so did the parents. Even though her father didn't bother to listen to Ivanna's gossip most of the time, it didn't discourage her from telling it nonetheless. Eleanora was sure the minute she reached home, her mother too would start pestering her about the new trio at Las Encinas.

If there was one thing Eleanora didn't want to do, it was gossip with her mother. Besides, Eleanora knew for a fact that if her mother started interrogating her now, there was no way she would make it to Marina's party on time. As much as she didn't want to attend it, she would rather get drunk - probably make some stupid mistakes like she always did when the girl was intoxicated - than stay at home with her mother.

Eleanora let out a curse when her driver named Miguel - who had been in their service for years - hit a bump, resulting in her spilling a little bit of drink onto her blouse. Earning a quick apology in return, Eleanora responded with an eye roll before downing the little bit of whiskey she had left in Polo's flask. She then forced herself to remember to return it to him in the evening - and to fill it with the same type of alcohol before doing so.

Eleanora and Polo hadn't been the closest when growing up; he and Carla were always together, so whenever Eleanora and Carla got together, Polo was there too. He was like a puppy following his owner; not that she minded his presence, even though at some point it grew tiresome to see him whenever she went.

After starting high school, Eleanora and Polo spent more and more time together. The two of them had the same circle of friends, and saw each other basically every day of the week. He was the one to who Eleanora went whenever she wanted to get drunk; Polo _always _carried a flask around him, and it amazed the brunette how he never had been caught drinking on school grounds. He was always ready to get drunk with her, something that the girl liked to do perhaps a little too much for his liking.

The girl was quick to open a message when her phone beeped, seeing it was from Lu who reminded her of her promise to go over to Lucrezia's place to get ready for the party. She had already forgotten about her promise, yet knew better than to get Lucrezia mad; she sent her best friend a quick message back just as she reached her house.

From outside, Eleanora could clearly see multiple people in her living room. At the center of them was Ivanna Azarola who too - just like her - was invited for the evening celebration. Multiple makeup artists and hairstylists circled her; to an outsider who wasn't custom to Ivanna's traditions it would have seemed as if she was the one throwing a party. Eleanora, however, knew how her mother always liked to be at the center of the attention just like herself - she had her mother to thank for that.

Eleanora quietly opened the main door, hoping to sneak by all of the people. Her mother noticed her almost immediately, asking - more like commanding - her presence in the living room. Letting out a small curse under her breath, Eleanora entered the room with a small smile on her face.

"How was school?" Ivanna asked her daughter, a glass of margarita in her hand and in the middle of a process of getting a manicure.

"It was good." She replied quickly, glancing at the clock on the wall. If she had to stand around the living room for another ten minutes, there was no way she would have arrived at Lucrezia's place at the appointed time. Lu hated when people were late; Eleanora was in no mood to getting lectured by her best friend.

"Did you see the new students?" There it was - the question Eleanora _knew _would be asked. For the whole day she was questioned about the trio, and she was growing extremely tired of it. At the end of the school day she ended up snapping at whoever even mentioned the new students. As much as the girl tried, she couldn't understand the need of her mother to know about the new students - after all, they certainly weren't anything interesting.

"They're nothing-" She started, but stopped when her mother's phone rang. Ivanna answered it without any hesitation, dismissing Eleanora with a wave of her hand, yet her stare indicated that she wasn't done talking about them. The girl mentally thanked at whoever had called her mother, running up the stairs to grab an outfit and make her way towards Lucrezia's house.

* * *

Eleanora was so busy with dancing from a guy from her school - she was sure the guy was a year above her, even though she had no clue what his name was - that she didn't notice the new students walk inside to Marina's party. She only then noticed them when Lu walked next to her, dragging her away from the boy and to Carla instead. Christian was already in a conversation with Carla at which Eleanora rolled her eyes, a smile - that wasn't sincere at all - on her lips.

"Christian, how nice to see you here." Eleanora exclaimed, clear to everyone that she had meant the greeting in a sarcastic way. Christian, however, didn't either notice it or didn't bother to reply with sarcasm, greeting her with genuine happiness in his voice.

"Who the _hell _invited them?" Eleanora hissed silently to Lu; the girl replied with a small shrug, the two of them looking over to Carla with distaste. Eleanora wanted to slap Carla for giving Christian that much attention - the blonde seemed even interested in him. The thought seemed outrageous to Eleanora.

_Why the hell would someone be interested in a lowlife like Christian when they had someone like Polo?_


	4. ACT 2 SCENE 2

"Marina was the sweetest girl I have ever met. She had light inside of her and she always shared it with everyone else." The brunette stared at a random spot to where the light landed, a small smile forming onto her face as she thought of the only fond memory she shared of Marina.

Once upon a time they had been close; for the past years they had done nothing but argue. Now that Marina was dead, Eleanora couldn't help but to feel guilty. Perhaps if someone had been there for her - a friend she could confide in - she wouldn't have ended up like she did.

"Why did the two of you argue?" The detective questioned, pulling Eleanora away from her train of thought. She looked up at the inspector who observed her closely; from next to her the advocate her parents had hired - one that was also close to her family - shook his head to stop Eleanora from answering the question.

"It isn't a secret that we didn't get along." The brunette remarked, more to her lawyer that to the inspector. "Marina never cared about anyone but herself. She _always _put her friends under the fire, only so that she could save herself. She acted if she was superior to everyone else, as if she didn't want the money or the luxury she had."

Letting out a small chuckle, she continued: "The funny thing is she never did anything against it. That's why she was a hypocrite, and that's why we never got along. I might be a bitch, but I would _never _do what she did to my friends, or to my family."

Letting out a small breath, Eleanora didn't even notice how angry she had gotten. She understood completely that what she had said could easily be describe as hatred towards Marina, yet she couldn't stop herself. Her every word was laced with venom, something that the detective easily picked up.

"Did Marina knew you and Samuel were seeing each other?"

Eleanora answered the inspector with a glare; her friends had shared their annoyance towards the detective with her. She now understood clearly why they thought of her as a nuisance in their lives.

"Marina was busy with other things to notice me. Or Samuel for the matter." She replied rather quickly. Yet _another _thing the detective wrote into her little notebook.

"Did she know about you and Nano?" She continued, not taking her eyes off the book. Only when Eleanora didn't answer she raised her head, raising her eyebrow as to encourage Eleanora to answer.

Inside, the girl fumed with anger; from outside, it looked as if Eleanora was simply thinking about her answer. There were not a lot of people who knew of her hookup with Nano - the two guilty parties of course; Eleanora vaguely remembered she had told about her rendezvous to Carla. Either she told about it to someone, or she told about it to the detective. Another option was that Nano himself couldn't keep his mouth shut and had to go brag about sleeping with a millionaire.

"Eleanora?" The detective forced her to stop her theorizing and to give her an answer, rather sooner than later.

"I don't know. There wasn't anything between me and Nano. We slept together before Samuel even came to Las Encinas." She replied truthfully, yet it seemed as if the detective didn't believe her. The last thing Eleanora wanted was to prove her innocence, since innocent she indeed was. The girl desperately wished to be at home in a bath, sipping on a good red wine without any care in the world. Yet deep down she knew things would _never _go back to normal, and the only thing now she needed to do was to be there for Guzmán.

For it was him who needed Eleanora the most - no one else mattered right now.

"Are there any more questions, or can I go now?" She demanded to know, a little too aggressively than she intended. The detective nodded in reply; Eleanora didn't waste no time in the room, and quickly left, her lawyer close behind her. The girl had no positive feelings towards the detective, but the brunette knew _someone _would be arrested any time now.

She could only hope it was not her.


	5. ACT 1 SCENE 3

The several glasses of champagne made Eleanora forget the fact that Samuel along with Christian and Nadia were crashing the party, even though Lu was quick to remind her. If it was any other day, she would have probably steered clear of them; now, the brunette didn't pay them any mind, going even that far as to dance alongside Samuel and Christian. Being intoxicated made her completely forget of their background, and for a second it even seemed to her as if the trio belonged next to her and her friends.

Ander puking on Lu made everyone stop dancing, giving a clear indication to Eleanora that perhaps she too should stop drinking - following Ander's lead was _not _how she wanted to end the night. Besides, there was that hot upper class student she had to find; knowing her she would have been extremely mad at herself if she didn't end the night at least with his phone number, and possibly, plans for an upcoming date.

Her friends were quick to scatter, making Eleanora roll her eyes. Within minutes everyone had taken off, leaving the girl alone with the parents and some random people Eleanora knew nothing about. She raised her eyebrow when she saw the trio along with Marina's father posing for photos; for a second her brown eyes met Samuel's - even Eleanora in her position could understand the boy felt extremely awkward. It was understandable of course - after all, the eldest Nunier had been directly connected to the construction of San Esteban, the school Samuel had attended prior to Las Encinas. Knowing Marina, she would have most certainly told the boy about it.

Feeling generous, Eleanora was about to interfere the photo op before her hand was grabbed and the girl was forced to twirl before landing into the arms of the same boy she was in search of. Her lips formed an angelic smile, one that matched his; the boy was only inches away from kissing her if it wasn't for her parents who disturbed the intimate moment the two teenagers were about to have. Eleanora instantly pulled away, rolling her eyes at the sly smile on her mother's face and the angry glare her father was sending to the boy.

"Come on Eleanora, we're leaving." Emmanuel Azarola commanded, his eyes never leaving the boy. Ivanna's arm on his hand made him relax, although if looks could kill, the boy would have already died _twice_.

"Uh, I'll see you at school." The teenager left quickly, sending Eleanora a wink from over his shoulder before disappearing. The girl mentally cursed her parents - especially her father - for showing up at the most eventful time of the evening.

"Did you have to do that?" Eleanora angrily questioned, grabbing her coat from her father and walking off without bothering to wait for the couple. The girl was about to reach outside when she suddenly stopped, shocked at seeing the person in front of her, one that she _never _thought she'd see again, especially at Guzmán's house.

Not too far from her stood Nano and Guzmán - from the proximity between the two boys it was evident a fight would break out anytime soon, unless someone interfered right away.

Eleanora walked closer to her friend, throwing a look to Nano, who - by all accounts - seemed surprised to see her there. Luckily for her Polo stepped in to help the brunette calm Guzmán down while everyone else simply stared at the whole ordeal with disdain, her mother being one of the many guilty parties.

"You don't deserve my brother!" Nano yelled angrily, pulling himself free of the hands stopping him from hurting Guzmán. "You can all shove your money up your asses!" He continued, motioning to all the people in the room before walking off, forcing Samuel to go along with him.

Eleanora quickly walked after him, not paying any attention to the curious glances of her friends and the angry words of Guzmán that were now directed towards her. When she caught up to him she grabbed his arm, forcing him to turn around. Samuel observed the scene with curiosity, walking off in anger especially after Nano commanded him to.

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me you were Samuel's brother?" Eleanora questioned angrily, her eyes solemnly focused on Nano. He pulled his arm away, his eyes glaring into hers - she could clearly see anger in them, and to her surprise he seemed even disappointed in her.

"I didn't have any time to talk about my brother when you were ripping my shirt off." Eleanora quickly shushed the boy, glancing around in order to make sure no one was listening to their conversation.

"Doesn't matter. Just stay the hell away from Samu or I will tell _everyone _that you slept with a lowlife like me. Your friends probably wouldn't be very happy about that, or your parents." With that he walked off, leaving the girl seething with anger.

No one threatened Eleanora Azarola and got away with it. No one, especially someone like Nano.

* * *

Eleanora let out a groan after Martin's declaration that their next assignment was a project concerning social media profiles. The girl was nursing a headache that had no indication of leaving; most of her day was spent dreaming of her bed. Luckily for her, no one questioned her about last night and she could easily spend the day with her thoughts.

To her surprise, Lu wanted to work together with her, making Eleanora instantly question her best friend of the reason. Lu _always _worked together with Guzmán, but now to her surprise the boy was working alongside Nadia of all people. It wasn't difficult to understand that Lu had forced him to do so; she was more than eager to inform Eleanora of the deal she and Guzmán had formed in order to humiliate Nadia. Eleanora had to admit that it seemed a little too cruel even for her taste, yet knowing Lu there was no way the girl would change her mind.

"El? Are you even listening to me?" Lu questioned next to the girl, Carla's eyes burning with curiosity as the two girls stared at the brunette. Eleanora nodded in reply, making the two girls satisfied enough to continue on with their conversation.

To Eleanora's surprise it turned out Carla was screwing Christian - with Polo's blessing to make the matters worse. It was now obvious to the brunette why Carla had been so interested in Christian in the first place. Lu was quick to judge the blonde, Eleanora quickly jumping to her defense even though the last thing she wanted was to get in the middle of her two friends.

"Come on Lu, it's not that bad." Eleanora said, drawing the attention of Lu who raised her eyebrow. She seemed to take offense of the fact that her best friend was not on her side; grabbing her bag and storming off without saying anything to the duo. Eleanora rolled her eyes, an action mimicked by Carla who sent a smile to her direction.

"Thanks, you know how Lu gets." She explained, linking her arm with Eleanora's as the two of them started walking towards another class they were about to have in the following minutes. "What's up with you and Samuel's brother? Whatever his name was." Eleanora was about to deny her relation to Nano, stopping when Carla added: "I saw you and him talking at Marina's party."

Eleanora let out a sigh; the girl _really _didn't want to tell anyone that she had slept with Nano, yet now it would have been pointless to deny it. Carla obviously knew something was up, and the girl would not let it go until Eleanora told her about it.

"We slept together." She blurted out; the blonde didn't seem that moved at her declaration. Perhaps she was waiting for something worse than a random hookup.

"But it was before I knew who he was." Eleanora added just as the bell rang, giving the two girls two minutes to enter the classroom as to not be late. Stopping Carla from entering, Eleanora leaned closer to the girl with a pleading look in her eyes.

"I'd really appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about it, especially Lu." Carla replied with a nod, her lips breaking into a small smile.

"Your secret's safe with me."


	6. ACT 1 SCENE 4

In her mind, Eleanora silently thanked the person whoever was texting her. Her mother's family from Turkey was visiting the Azarola family, which in no case was _not _a happy occasion. Ivanna herself barely got along with her family, hence the reason why Eleanora hadn't met her mother's side of the family before; the girl was sure she hadn't missed out on anything. An hour in and Eleanora could easily see why Ivanna had forgotten of her family as soon as she met Emmanuel.

As inconspicuously as she could, Eleanora took her phone from her pocket, opening the message she had received. It was an invitation for a party, one that Samuel was throwing. The girl had to admit she was surprised as to why the boy was inviting her; after all, they hadn't exchanged any words with one another - Eleanora barely even acknowledged his presence.

The brunette was facing a dilemma, one that she never thought she would have. There was the option of staying home, somehow bear the hours her relatives were to spend at her house; on the other hand there was Samuel's party. She could endure running into Samuel, but the same couldn't have said about Nano. Eleanora was sure the boy would be present - she _really _didn't want to give him a reason to deliver his promise.

A part of Eleanora wanted to spend time with Samuel solemnly because of Nano. If she did so, he could clearly see that someone like him could never threaten someone like Eleanora. After all, why she should have cared if he'd tell of their hookup? It would be a hot topic for a day, and the next day it would be just as easily forgotten.

Managing a sweet smile onto her face - one that her parents never seemed to resist - the girl excused herself from the table. She heard no objections from her parents, yet when she hurried off she heard the distinguished voice of her grandmother scolding Ivanna from not keeping better track of her daughter. Heated words followed, ones that Eleanora didn't bother to listen to. Instead, the brunette answered Samuel's invitation affirmatively; being in the house was the last thing Eleanora wanted to do, even if it meant crashing a party and seeing the person she now considered her number one enemy.

As Eleanora stared at her closet, trying to figure out what to wear, she glanced at the list of people who were invited to the event. Not surprisingly, none of her friends' names were there; every other name she read was an unknown one to her, except for a couple of them. She rolled her brown eyes upon reading Marina's name, yet a smirk appeared onto her face when she saw Omar's name.

_Perhaps the night would be tolerable after all._

* * *

The first thing Eleanora did when entering Samuel's apartment was pour herself a shot of tequila which she quickly drowned. The apartment was packed with people; for some reason the girl couldn't believe that all the people there were friends of Samuel. She wasn't, however, surprised to see Christian there along with Omar and Nano. For some reason Ander too was present.

Downing another shot, Eleanora plastered a smile onto her face as she walked over to the group. The brunette could instantly see Nano scowling while Christian greeted the girl with a smile on his face.

"Ay, looks who's here!" The boy yelled practically over the whole apartment; luckily for Eleanora the music was too loud, and nearly no one could hear Christian over the loud music.

"Hola chicos." Eleanora smiled, turning her full attention to Samuel who stared at her with a bewildering look on his face. "Thanks for the invite." She added to which the boy only replied with a nod before walking off, Nano hurrying off after him.

The brunette was more than surprised to see Guzmán there, yet when she saw him running after Marina, Eleanora wasn't astonished. Guzmán had practically dedicated his life to looking after Marina, a fact that the redhead was fully aware of. Eleanora was sure that Marina secretly liked the attention, no matter how hard she tried to convince people otherwise.

When she finally focused back on the boys she found herself alone, standing in the middle of the kitchen as an odd man out. Usually she would have enjoyed the party, but for some reason she couldn't force herself to do so which meant only one thing - the girl was in need of some liquor courage, and luckily for her, she had no shortage of that.

* * *

Her eyes closed, Eleanora rolled on the bed only to almost fall onto the floor. For some reason her queen bed was now a single-person bed? Opening her eyes the girl found herself in an unknown room, completely oblivious as to why she was there. Slowly she regained her memory as to what had happened the previous night: lots of drinking, a pill she had gotten from Omar, dancing; she was sure she had kissed someone, but as hard as she tried she couldn't remember who the other person was. At least she was in the bed alone, which meant that perhaps she hadn't done anything extremely stupid the night before.

Eleanora slowly stood up from the bed, desperately in search of her dress which was nowhere to be found. Grabbing a random shirt she pulled it over her body; her brown eyes landed on a mirror. Staring at her reflection made her admit to she looked horrible. Usually the first thing she would have done was fix herself to look presentable; now the only thing on her mind was to get out of the place as soon as possible.

The brunette could only hope her parents hadn't woken up yet; if they had, the chances were high that they were aware of their daughter not being home. Knowing them, they probably would make a huge deal out of it - the last thing Eleanora needed was to hear their scolding when having a hangover.

Eleanora silently opened the door, tiptoeing out of the room to find herself in the living room. She now understood where she was - for some reason she hadn't gone home, and spent the night at Samuel's place instead. The boy himself was asleep on the couch; luckily for her, Nano was nowhere to be found.

Usually the girl wouldn't have cared, yet now she felt guilty as she looked at the lying form of Samuel. He was barely able to keep himself from rolling onto the floor; the whole apartment was filled with decorations from the party and empty red cups were placed onto every surface possible. Silently placing her heels onto the floor, the girl walked over to the kitchen where she quickly found a roll of empty trash bags.

The least Eleanora could do to thank Samuel for letting her sleep there was to clean up which she quickly did - and when the brunette left, Samuel was still asleep.


	7. ACT 1 SCENE 5

Like any other teenager on the planet, Eleanora hated school. What she hated more was being in school when she was hungover due to last night's drinking; the girl knew she had no one else to blame but herself, and now walking in the halls of Las Encinas, the brunette wondered perhaps she should limit her drinking from now on.

Being drunk was fun, the aftermath of it - not so much.

Lu's yelling did no favors to her headache - Eleanora's best friend was - like always - mad of the fact that Eleanora hadn't answered her calls and messages last night, and was bombarding her with questions about her whereabouts. Eleanora loved Lu, she really did, yet now the only thing she wanted to do was to slap the girl in order to shut her up.

In Eleanora's opinion, at times, Lu acted a little too obsessively over their friendship. The two girls were instant friends when Lu moved to her neighbourhood; the brunette and Carla had been friends prior, a fact that Lu _still _felt insecure about. No matter how good friends she and Carla were, Lucrezia had a fear of Eleanora replacing their friendship for Carla's. Eleanora understood her fear - after all, people fell out of touch with each other every day - yet in the 21st century you would think that girls could be friends with each other, not rivals.

It might have been the case in other places, but not in Las Encinas. The parents actively encouraged their children to compete with each other - for Eleanora, her childhood was constantly filled with competitions she could not care about. Even at the age of sixteen her parents continued to pressure her; luckily for her, Ivanna and Emmanuel Azarola _finally_ had started to realize that no matter how hard they pushed their daughter, Eleanora would still do whatever she desired.

When her English teacher started babbling about the curve used to grade the students, Eleanora barely managed to keep her eyes open. The new trio hadn't even heard of the grading system; the brunette, however, knew it by heart. To her parent's relief Eleanora cared about her grades a little more than the majority did, placing her slightly above the average. She was in no means as good of a student as Lucrezia was or her best friend's new rival Nadia.

Luckily for Eleanora, the bell rang much quicker than she anticipated. It didn't take her long to grab her things and walk outside of the room, barely acknowledging her friends farewells. The first thing the teenager did upon reaching her home was drop onto her bed, falling into a deep slumber in the matter of minutes.

* * *

"Well, don't you look fancy." Eleanora greeted Christian with a wide smile. Much to her surprise - and to Lu's annoyance - she quite liked the boy. Of course she wasn't about to go and announce it to the whole school; her reputation mattered far too much to her, one that she had spent years to build up. If anything, Eleanora was _definitely _not ready to give up her position at the top of Las Encinas.

"Gracias." Christian replied, performing a very over the top twirl which made Eleanora roll her eyes at him. _Perhaps she didn't like Christian that much._

Her dark eyes scanned the place, hoping to glance her friends, yet no one seemed to be present. It wasn't surprising in Lu's case - the girl always liked to be stylishly late - but much to Eleanora's annoyance even Carla was nowhere to be seen. Weird, since the party was taking place at Carla's own house; Eleanora was sure that Carla and Polo were _most definitely _hooking up in her room.

"Have you seen Carla?" Eleanora suddenly questioned, forcing Christian to stop his monologue on whatever topic the girl didn't bother to listen to.

"She went inside, not sure where though." He replied, motioning to a random spot he didn't even glance at. Quickly walking off, Eleanora didn't give Christian an opportunity to continue his rant, an action to which the boy took offence to.

Not that Eleanora cared much for it.

Her heels clicking on the marble floors, Eleanora was quickly stopped by Guzmán's parents who questioned her of the whereabouts of Ivanna and Emmanuel Azarola. She didn't have a chance to reply when Guzmán appeared - excusing himself as well as her - dragging her off to a corner where Polo was already sitting along with Ander. With a smile Eleanora greeted her best friends, taking a seat alongside them.

It wasn't long before the night - which had turned out alright - would take a complete turn and force Eleanora to do something she had no idea she wanted to do.


	8. ACT 1 SCENE 6

For someone who had attended more parties than she could count on her fingers, Eleanora _hated _the one she was at, and would classify it as the most unbearable one.

Rooms filled with the members of the older generation wouldn't stop questioning her - nor her friends - about the plans they had for the future. Ivanna Azarola made it impossible for Eleanora to reply; the brunette barely got a word in before her mother would hijack the conversation again, telling the people all around her what her teenage daughter was about to do in the future. Eleanora could only roll her eyes, entirely giving up on the conversation - not that she had any desire to answer their questioning. After all, the girl barely knew what she was about to do the following day. College plans seemed to far away from her, as if they were dreams she would never reach.

For Eleanora's luck, Lu provided her with good company. Her blonde friend barely spoke three sentences to Eleanora before taking off with Polo and Christian; according to Lucrezia, the three were engaged in a sexual relationship. Eleanora could only shrug at the obscenity Carla was involved in - the brunette felt as if she had no right to judge. Lu, however, didn't share her views as she spent most of the evening sharing her dislike towards Carla's decisions.

From the corner of her eye Eleanora saw Samuel appearing onto the scene. The boy did nothing to hide the fact that he didn't belong along the rich and glamorous; glancing at him, Eleanora even felt bad for him. It didn't help that everyone around her turned their attention to him, especially when Guzmán tried to throw the boy out. Much to Lu's laugh his jacket was ripped, and a tag popped out.

"He wanted to return it!" Lu yelled out with a chuckle so that the few people who hadn't seen Samuel enter now turned, staring at the boy. Utter repulsion towards Samuel was evident on their faces. Even her mother had raised her eyebrow and was now whispering something to Carla's mother. Her father, like always, had disappeared somewhere along with her friends' fathers, something that the older men liked to do quite often.

"Lu, you don't have to be so mean all the time." Eleanora replied with a slight annoyance; her best friend stared at her as if she hadn't heard her right. Eleanora had _always _agreed with what Lu had said, ever since the trio appeared at Las Encinas. Now, Lu had began to wonder if her best friend even _liked _the scholarship students. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't wrap her head around the idea; at the same time, Lucrezia thought of the greetings Eleanora had started to give the trio every school morning, or the occasional smiles whenever the brunette passed them. For a second it even made Lu feel uneasy - she quickly reassured herself that there was now way she was about to lose Eleanora to some lowlifes who dressed up as soap opera stars and had to return their suits.

"Whatever." Lu simply mumbled under her breath, walking off. With a roll of her eyes Eleanora walked away from the scene, not bothering to follow Lucrezia and settling outside instead. She quickly downed the remaining champagne in her glass, setting it down next to a flower pot. The girl had every desire to go home and land in her bed, _preferably _with the hot teenager she had almost shared a kiss with. The boy had looked for her immediately the next day - flirtation followed, as well as phone number exchange. Eleanora now knew his name was Agustín, and like she had thought, was a grade above her.

A plan formed in her mind, Eleanora whipped out her phone to order herself a taxi; she knew for a fact her mother would be furious is she'd take the car home and leave them stranded there - facing her wrath was the last thing Eleanora wanted to do. The phone call lasted barely two minutes; luckily for her, she was promised a taxi in the next ten minutes. The girl was about to focus on her phone if she hadn't seen Samuel sitting near her, looking as miserable as ever.

Eleanora instantly tried to concentrate on her phone, yet her eyes caught Samuel once more. Looking at him, Eleanora could feel the sorrow he was feeling. She tried to ignore the dilemma inside of her; a part of her wanted to console the boy, and Eleanora couldn't understand why would she even _care _about Samuel. They were just two teenagers who occasionally shared classes, nothing more.

Letting out an annoyed sigh, Eleanora walked over to the bench Samuel was sitting on. Without saying anything the girl took a seat next to him; Samuel instantly looked up, and from his eyes surprise was evident. It was clear he had waited for someone else and not her.

"Are you alright?" Eleanora questioned; to a random bypasser it would have seemed as if Eleanora was _genuinely _worried about the well-being of Samuel. "I am sorry for what Guzmán did."

"Do you always apologize for him?" Samuel instantly snapped back, regretting the rudeness almost instantly. Eleanora too seemed surprised at his outburst, yet instantly recovered by letting out a small sigh.

"There are a lot of things you don't know about Guzmán and Marina. If you did, I'm sure you'd understand him a little better." Eleanora had apologized for his behalf many previous times that she even started to believe so herself. She knew what had happened between Marina and Pablo - Guzmán himself had told her about the whole ordeal - yet there were only so many times the same excuse could be used to justify his actions. Even to Eleanora it felt as if his actions towards the new students were cruel at times.

"I doubt it."

"You really are stubborn, aren't you?" Eleanora questioned with a chuckle; nodding, Samuel let out a laugh before silence befell the both of them. Suddenly, Eleanora jumped up from the bench, her hand stretched towards Samuel for him to take.

"If you're not that busy, perhaps we could go and have some fries? If you don't, that's fine." If she was confused about her feelings before, the question Eleanora asked without thinking made her mentally curse herself. She tried to understand _why _she'd possibly want to eat at a diner with Samuel. She quickly assured herself that the reason why was simple: she was simply hungry and didn't want to be alone, hence the reason why she'd rather hang out with someone she barely knew than spend the night alone in her bed.

"I'd actually like that."


End file.
